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Recount of % f meetings 



DEDICATION 



CHILDREN'S MISSION HOME, 

on tremont street, opposite common street, boston, 
March 27, 1867 ; 

WITH THE REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT, THE STATEMENT 

OF THE SECRETARY, AND THE ADDRESS OF 

REV. GEORGE L. CHANEY, 



|Tist of tbc £oeietus anb Unbibibnals foljo farmsfceb t(j* Jlooms. 



BOSTON: 

PRESS Of JOHN WILSON AND SON. 

1867. 



V5a 



The Home will be open for Visitors on Wednesdays and Saturdays 
from 2 to 5 o'clock, P.M., only. 



ORDER OF SERVICES. 



HYMN. 

Tuse, — Hebron. 

Fountain of light and wisdom ! shed 
Thy lasting influence on this place ! 
Break here, O Lord ! thy living bread ; 
Pour the free rivers of thy grace. 

Grant us the love our work demands ; 
The zeal thine ancient martyrs knew : 
With holy strength confirm our hands ; 
With wisdom all our souls endue. 

Neglected, on life's dreary wold, 
Thy starving lambs for succor cry ; 
'Tis ours to bring them to the fold, 
Where, ever green, thy pastures lie. 

Here may the precepts of thy word 
Like dew on thirsting ground descend ; 
Thy truth, like Eden's fiaming sword, 
The portals of each heart defend. 

Lord ! send thy laborers forth, we pray, 
Thy harvest wide to garner in ; 
More true, more earnest, day by day, 
Than those who here thy work begin. 



II. 

INTRODUCTORY PRAYER. 
By Rev. E. E. Hale. 



III. 

READING OF SCRIPTURES. 

By Rev. Rufus Ellis. 



IV. 
SINGING. 

: Gather them in/ 



V. 
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT. 

♦ 

VI. 
STATEMENT BY THE SECRETARY. 



VII. 

DEDICATORY PRAYER. 

By Rev. E. J. Young, of Newton Corner. 



VIII. 

ORIGINAL HYMN. 

By Miss Almira Seymour. 

Tune, — Sicily. 

" I was hungry, and ye fed me ; 
Thirsty, and ye gave me drink ; 
I was wandering, and ye led me 
Safely from destruction's brink. 



"I a stranger was, and lonely, 
And ye freely took me in ; 
Sick, in prison, your comfort only 
Back to hope my heart could win." 

Lord, when saw we thee in sorrow, 
And became your helping friend ? 

Gladly we this grace would borrow 
To sustain us at the end. 

" I was naked, and your kindness 

Cleansed and clothed my shivering frame; 
Ignorant, my soul's deep blindness 
Fled before your soul's pure flame." 



IX. 

DEDICATORY SERMON. 

By Rev. George L. Chaney, of Hollis-street Church. 

— ♦— 

X. 

SINGING. 

" Light in the window." 

— ♦ — 

XL 

BRIEF ADDRESSES BY PERSONS PRESENT. 

♦ 

XII. 

ORIGINAL HYMN. 

By Miss Almira Seymour. 

Tune, — Greenville. 

Lord, when saw we thee neglected, 
And made haste to give thee aid? 

Have not we, too, thee rejected, 
Of earth's toils and taunts afraid ? 



" Keep the path ye were pursuing, 
Howe'er lowly it may be ; 
All ye've done, all ye are doing, 
For my weak ones, is for me" 

Jesus, will thy holy spirit 

To this wayside shelter come ? 

May thy poor that wealth inherit? 
Shall this be indeed thy Home ? 

" Finish well what ye are doing, — 
Pure and perfect let it be ; 
All the good ye are pursuing 
For my lost ones is for me I 



XIII. 



BENEDICTION 
By Rev. E. S. Gannett, DJX 




DEDICATION 

OF THE 

NEW BUILDING FOR THE CHILDREN'S MISSION, 
WITH THE REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT. 



[From the Boston Daily Advertiser of March 28th.} 

The handsome and spacious edifice erected for the 
noble purpose of the Children's Mission to the Chil- 
dren of the Destitute (commonly styled simply the 
" Children's Mission ") is now ready for occupancy 
The situation of the edifice, on Tremont Street, nearly 
opposite Common Street, is well chosen, being on the 
highest land in that section of the city. The front line 
of the estate is twenty feet back of the present line of 
the street, which is to be widened to that extent. All 
the rooms are well open to the light, and excellent 
drainage is secured. 

The building is of brick, with freestone trimmings, 
and comprises two divisions, one of which contains the 
school-room and chapel, and the other the "Home." 
The latter is four stories in height, and is crowned with 
a French roof. The basement has a dining-room 35 feet 
by 151 in size ; a kitchen 18 by 14^ feet, conveniently 
arranged with boilers for supplying the first and second 
stories with water, and also a cooking-range ; and a 
laundry 20 by 13 feet. There are also, in the basement, 
store-rooms and ice-room, two small sleeping-rooms, 
the furnaces for heating the building, and several coal 
closets. 

On the first floor, at the left of the entrance hall, are 
the public and private offices. At the end of the hall 



8 

is the public parlor. The housekeeper's room adjoins 
this. On the right of the hall, beneath the staircase, is 
a store-room for children's clothing. 

The second and third stories are devoted to sleeping- 
rooms, and contain accommodations for thirty children. 
The bedsteads are single iron cots, and the furnishing 
of these apartments is neat and comfortable. 

Many of the rooms in this division of the building 
are furnished by different religious societies and by 
individuals. 

In the other division of the building, the school- 
room, at the right of the main entrance on the first 
floor, is 52| by 23 feet, high-studded and neatly 
finished, and provided with settees which will accommo- 
date about three hundred children. Attached to it 
are two small ante-rooms, one designed for a wash-room, 
and the other to be used by the teachers. Above is 
the pleasant little chapel, of the same size as the school- 
room, with a room adjoining, for the infant class. The 
chapel is finished in chestnut. 

The general appearance of the interior of the build- 
ing is very attractive. The walls of the rooms are 
finely adorned with pictures, mostly of a religious char- 
acter, contributed by generous friends. Several of the 
rooms contain well-selected libraries. There are three 
bath-rooms, with hot and cold water. Marble mantels, 
neat curtains, and cheerful-looking carpets, give the 
apartments a home-like aspect. The whole cost of the 
edifice and land is about fifty thousand dollars. 

This elegant building, so well adapted to the purpose 
of its founders, was dedicated yesterday forenoon. 
There was as large an audience present as the little 
chapel and its ante-room and vestibule would accommo- 
date. Hon. Albert Fearing., President of the institu- 
tion, presided on the occasion. 

He spoke of the laying of the corner-stone of the 
building on the 12th of July last, and described the edi- 



9 

fice as a monument to the noble charity of the friends 
of the society, to the skill of the architect, and to the 
devotion of the laborers. After alluding to the special 
claims of orphan and neglected children, he said it had 
been the great idea of the supporters of this institu- 
tion to bring the children of the rich and favored 
classes into contact with those of the poor and de- 
graded, to assist in lifting them up. The institution 
was not sectarian. It received children from all sects, 
and placed them in moral families without regard to 
sect. However true the charge of proselytism, made 
recently by a foreign gentleman (Mr. Maguire), might 
be, as applied to other societies, it could not lie at the 
door of this society, which exercised the largest tolera- 
tion, and did not interfere with the religious views of 
its beneficiaries. Mr. Fearing closed by bidding the 
audience, in behalf of the society, a cordial welcome. 

After the address, brief addresses were made by 
Eev. C. F. Barnard, Rev. Rtjfus Ellis, Rev. War- 
ben H. Cudworth, Rev. S. H. Winkley, Rev. A. B. 
Muzzey, Rev. E. S. Gannett ; and the exercises 
were closed with a benediction. 



1* 



10 



STATEMENT 



THE SECRETARY, GEORGE MERRILL. 



This Society was organized, and the Constitution 
adopted, and the first board of officers elected, May 9th 
and 11th, 1849. 

The objects were twofold : first, " to foster in the 
minds of the young a spirit of Christian sympathy and 
active benevolence ; " and, secondly, " to adopt such 
measures as shall rescue from vice and degradation the 
morally exposed children of this city." 

These objects had been pursued, with such means as 
had been at the command of the Executive Committee, 
for fifteen years ; when it was incorporated (in April, 
1864) under the corporate title of " The Children's 
Mission to the Children of the Destitute in the City of 
Boston." 

This experience revealed the need of additional 
facilities for the furtherance of the objects of this mis- 
sion. 

It was very difficult to obtain suitable rooms for its 
use in desirable localities, that had not surrounding an- 
noyances, in a greater or less degree, to some, if not all, 
the parties concerned in the operations of the society. 
It was also very difficult to get occasional board and 
lodging for homeless children who came under the care 
of the missionaries, until good homes could be provided 
for them. After long and patient reflection and discus- 



11 

sion, the Executive Committee issued a circular on the 
4th of February, 1865, embodying the result of their 
deliberations, and stating their opinion " that their out- 
ward appliances would be perfected by a building 
somewhat centrally located, and fitted to all their 
wants ; " and asked for the ntoney to erect it. Within 
one week, a subscription was tendered of five thousand 
dollars, on condition that the sum should be increased 
to fifty thousand dollars within that year (1865) ; failing 
in raising that amount at that time, an extension was 
granted, by the generous donor, of six months (to June 
30, 1866), at which time the required amount of fifty 
thousand dollars was realized. Before that time, this 
very desirable lot of land was purchased, the plans 
prepared, and the work commenced ; and the corner- 
stone was laid with appropriate religious services on the 
12th of July last. The prayers of that day have been 
answered, and this building has been erected without 
any accident or injury to any one of the operatives. 
This structure, so centrally and desirably situated, is 
free from all local annoyances, and is on the highest 
point of land of this part of the city (the drainage flow- 
ing both north-east and south-west). It is divided into 
two parts ; and, to designate them, this is called the 
" chapel," and the other the " house." In this part 
there are two halls ; in both of them, particular atten- 
tion has been paid to ventilation, and they are suf- 
ficiently light and airy, and are so arranged and fur- 
nished as to make them commodious and comfortable. 

The one below is intended for the sewing schools, 
the day-schools, the boys' meetings in the evening, and 
for festive occasions. The one in which we are assem- 
bled is designed for the Sunday school in the morning, 
and the Sunday service for the children in the after- 
noon, and conference and prayer meeting in the even- 
ing, if desired ; and the room in the rear is intended 
for the infant Sunday-school class. 



12 

The adjoining building, " the house/' is commodiously 
arranged, with thirty-one rooms in all, and is furnished 
with thirty-one single beds for children, and comforta- 
ble accommodations for their attendants as well as for 
the cleanliness of all the inmates ; three bathing-rooms 
having been provided. Commodious rooms are also 
provided and furnished for the daily business of the 
society, where one of the missionaries may be found 
during the entire day, to attend to any inquiries that 
may be made,, and business that may be intrusted to 
them, relating to the work of the mission. 

Thus much for the description of the building, and 
its uses ; and we trust that it will prove to afford, real 
facilities for the prosecution and extension of the purposes 
of the society. That an increased number of children 
who are without homes, or such as are kept' in the 
places where they are poorly sheltered (though little 
else about them deserves the name of homes), may here 
find a temporary home, until the missionaries of this so- 
ciety can find satisfactory ones for them, into which 
they may be removed. We trust that increased num- 
bers of destitute, exposed, homeless children may here 
enjoy, if but for a brief season, the pleasure of a Chris- 
tian home atmosphere, while preparations are completed 
for their reception in Christian homes in the country, 
whefe they will breathe the spirit of Him who said, 
when he was upon earth, " Feed my lambs." 

We trust that a welcome will always be here ex- 
tended to all homeless children from that desolate and 
exposed condition, as a brief resting-place, till future 
and permanent homes are provided for them. 

The following extract is from the communication 
which accompanied the first subscription of five thou- 
sand dollars: "for the erection of a building that will 
place the institution on a permanent basis, — a build- 
ing worthy of the cause it will represent." The Ex- 
ecutive Committee have endeavored to have that idea 



13 

carried out in the erection of this edifice. It is not for 
them to say how successful they have been. 

They would say, however, that the contractors have 
fulfilled their contracts to the entire satisfaction of the 
Executive Committee. 

The building is completed, and it is furnished, much 
of it gratuitously ; and it is not only completed and 
furnished, but it is all paid for ! 

With increased facilities come increased responsibili- 
ties. We gratefully accept them. We thank the gen- 
erous friends who have provided them ; and, above all, 
we thank our Heavenly Father for them, and would 
look to Him for wisdom and strength, that we may 
discharge the trust to His acceptance. 

We rejoice to assemble here to-day to dedicate this 
edifice to Him and to His service, and, in the name of 
His son Jesus, to ask His favor upon it, that it may 
long stand, and be used to His glory. 



2* 



14 



ADDEESS 



REV. GEORGE L. CHANEY. 



"The Son of man is come to save that which was lost." — Matt, xviii. 11. 

We are met here to dedicate this building to the work 
of rescuing the children of the destitute from ignorance 
and vice, and providing them with homes. 

A mission so truly Christian need not look long among 
the words of Jesus for its justification. The one sen- 
tence in which the Master tells the purpose of his life 
and work, best expresses the purpose of our association. 
" The Son of man is come to save that which was 
lost." 

The first question which one would ask, to whom the 
object of this Mission was stated, would be, " How do 
you propose to do it ? Ignorant and vicious children, 
the offspring of poverty and crime, are in every ward 
of our city ; orphans and worse than orphans, homeless 
and worse than homeless, children whose homes are 
their school of vice, are all about you ; but how do you 
expect to save them, and make them members of vir- 
tous and happy homes ? " 

The answer has been made by the practice of this 
Mission for the last eighteen years. " Take them from 
their bad homes, and plant them in good ones." To- 
day, for the first time, this charity of the children has 
its complete outfit for doing the work ; and the history 
of the Mission from its first Sunday School in Utica 
Street and the Ward Room in District No. 9, step by 



15 

step to the vestry of the Christian Church in Kneeland 
Street, to the hall in Eliot Street, and thence to this 
finished establishment, exactly illustrates and happily 
prophesies the work of elevation which it seeks to do 
for its lowly children. 

The quiet growth and modest expectation of the Mis- 
sion will be best shown by an extract from the Report 
of the Executive Committee made in 1859, the date of 
their last removal before coming here. " It being no 
longer convenient for the Christian society in Kneeland 
Street to have the sewing school held there, your Com- 
mittee sought accommodations elsewhere. They found 
it difficult to procure the use of a suitable room for that 
purpose alone. They met with a new hall in Eliot 
Street, which was just what they wanted', but they 
hesitated, whether, with an empty treasury, it was ad- 
visable to take a lease of it." Upon reflection, how- 
ever, as the office could be removed there, and the oper- 
ations of the Mission be so much concentrated, they 
were tempted to take a lease of it for three years." 

The room on Eliot Street, which in 1859 was just 
what was wanted, is to-day just what is not wanted. 
Who will forecast the future of this progressive charity ? 

We have said that the Mission has to-day a complete 
outfit for its work, — the work of aiding children on 
the way from poverty and vice to virtuous competence. 
What is this outfit ? 

1st, A Home. — There is no way of preparing 
children to live faithfully in home relationship, save by 
putting them into such relationship^. The first need of 
a Mission like ours, therefore, is a home department, in 
which children taken from a low and corrupting family 
life may be domesticated, and prepared to enter other 
homes, without injury to the inmates. This is the very 
pivot on which our enterprise rests ; and around this 
home, as a centre, all our labors should turn. The 
home should give the tone to the whole Mission ; and, in 



16 

every department of our work, — in the schools, the 
meeting, the classes, the visiting, — everything should 
be done to cherish the sacred idea of the home. 

A building covering so many ministries, not often so 
closely united, will be sure to exalt some one of its de- 
partments above the others : let it exalt the home. 
Without the home-life, warm, steady, and intelligent, in 
the centre, the two wings of chapel and school would 
be likely to beat unevenly. I would have the home 
the ruling centre of all; and, so far as possible, the 
chapel should be regarded as an adjunct of the house. 
Let the family regard it as their own. Let the children 
have a hand in taking care of it, and a pride in keeping 
it tidy, and open to worshippers from the world outside. 
Let them throw it open to their neighbors, just as the 
Duke of Buccleuch throws open his private chapel, at 
the entrance to his magnificent estate, every day, and 
invites the towns-people to enter, and enjoy the ser- 
vice; and I would have the same subjection of the 
school or sewing room to the home. They, the family, 
for the time being, own, but willingly share with the 
public, the advantages of school and church. I re- 
peat it : — 

Cultivate ever and reverence most the home-life in 
this building. Already the visitor lingers longest, and 
with most satisfied interest, in the rooms devoted to the 
comfort and happiness of the little family soon to be 
gathered within these walls. In every sleeping-room, 
the heart is touched by the signs of a care and love 
which could only have been born and taught in good 
Christian homes. If their rooms were a portion of their 
own houses, the people who have furnished them could 
not have provided more thoughtfully for their inmates. 
Streams of love from a thousand homes meet and min- 
gle here. May the overflow carry love and blessing to 
thousands of homes that we know not of ! 

To maintain this home-like character in our institu- 



17 

tion, we must have a motherly presence and a sisterly 
influence. No matron ! no governess ! Heaven forbid ! 
Give the children a mother and a sister, who will make 
them forget, so far as kindness and ungrudging care can 
go, that this is but a temporary home. Watched over 
and taught with the same solicitude that follows chil- 
dren in well-ordered families ; encouraged to give their 
confidence, and confess their faults ; indulged in all 
harmless sportive-ness, and made useful so far as possible 
in the household, — the children may get well rooted 
here in domestic virtue, before they are sent to their 
selected homes at a distance from the scene of for- 
mer temptations. Thus will one great work, perhaps 
the chief work of our Mission, be well begun. 

It is difficult to estimate the comparative importance, 
however, of the various activities of this Mission. If 
the numbers brought under influence be the test, the 
sewing and Sunday schools would claim the first place 
in our regard ; for, according to the Report of last 
year, the number of children aided by the schools from 
the beginning, was over three thousand, while the 
number provided with homes was two thousand four 
hundred. 

The reformation brought about by an entire separa- 
tion of the destitute child from his unhappy and cor- 
rupting associations, must be much more thorough than 
when he is only taken away for an hour or two during 
the week, and sent back again. But it should be remem- 
bered, that the child is not sent back no wiser or better 
than he came. The hour or more spent in learning 
some useful art or some thrifty habit, or on Sunday, 
devoted to a study of the Bible in its simplicity, and 
with friendly and intelligent sympathy from devoted 
teachers, has enlarged the faculty, and widened the 
views, and kindled the better nature, of the child ; and 
she goes home, to be, in turn, a little missionary in her 
home and neighborhood. 



18 

For this service to the children of the destitute in 
the homes of the destitute, we need, secondly, a pleas- 
ant and commodious school-room. 

The third and last function of the Mission is to 
give a true Christian culture to all its beneficiaries. A 
work conceived and carried on in the spirit in which 
this Mission has begun and flourished, cannot be com- 
plete without some endeavor to extend the religion 
which gave it birth. Fortunately, it was not born of 
sectarian ambition; and therefore it can have no hered- 
itary taint of narrowness or bigotry : but the gospel, as 
it reads in the New Testament, as it has been the 
corner-stone, so must it always be the acknowledged 
and honored support, of our Mission. For the reverent 
conduct of religious service, and for free tuition in the 
first principles of the Christian religion, this chapel has 
been added to the other accommodations, and this com- 
pletes the outfit of the Children's Mission to the Chil- 
dren of the Destitute. 

The wide range of Christian endeavor which it pro- 
poses, makes school-room and chapel necessary. But 
it should never be forgotten, that the home is the jewel 
of our crown of charities, and school and chapel are 
but the setting. As much as possible, these should be 
made the charge and auxiliaries of the Home, and in 
every way subserve the dignity and happiness of the 
resident family. I would have them used chiefly for 
congregations from the neighborhood ; seldom, if ever, 
for the resident children alone. I hope they will not 
be marched into this public wing of the building every 
day, a single file of shivering orphans, pious on threat 
and good by rule, to go through with morning and 
evening prayers. No ! let them rather be gathered 
about the mother in her cheerful parlor, with Bible 
open on the table, and cherubic piety — the healthy, 
round-face kind — smiling on them from the walls. 
Then, when "the morning light is breaking," let them 



19 

sing the cheerful songs, or when the evening lamps are 
lighted, just before bedtime, let mother or sister read 
to them a verse, and say with them the dear Lord's 
Prayer. 

Do not take the Home children in here alone, even 
on Sunday. Take them rather to church, like any 
other children. Bring them into Hollis Street, or over 
to Arlington Street, or to Mr. Edmands', for the morn- 
ing service at least. Guard at every approach the 
homelike character of your institution. 

Home, school, and church combine in one triune 
mission. "In my Father's house are many mansions." 
We dedicate them, we set them 'aside, for the service 
of God and the Son. Not unfittingly, the French have 
named their charitable institutions, Mai sons Dieu, or 
Houses of Gocl. The name we have reserved for the 
church, designates, with them, the asylum, or house of 
refuge. In this mansion, we include both church and 
refuge, and thus present a double claim to be the House 
of God, and the ward of Him who "is come to save 
that which was lost." 

In that one sentence in which Jesus preferred to 
define his mission upon earth, he describes the building 
which we this day dedicate, and states the object which, 
for eighteen years, has been steadily kept in view by 
the friends of this Mission. " To save that which was 
lost." 

It would seem easy to understand so simple a state- 
ment of the purpose of Christianity; but not all have 
searched and known its meaning. So different have been 
the conceptions of the nature of salvation, and the degree 
of the soul's loss, that differences of administration, 
oftentimes so great as to be antagonistic, have arisen, in 
the endeavor to accomplish Christ's mission. 

One party, regarding man as lost from the very hour 
of his birth, puts his hope of salvation only in a mys- 
tical rite, a baptism of water, after which the soul of 



20 

the naturally depraved infant is considered safe. The 
missions of this Church have all been directed prima- 
rily to the administration of this rite of baptism to as 
many persons as possible. The record of their suc- 
cess is put down as so many baptized or saved. 

The salvation thus poured upon mankind is a protec- 
tion against future damnation. It may or may not show 
signs, in the life of the regenerate heart ; nevertheless, 
by that holy rite, thy child is secured against the eternal 
punishment which awaits unbaptized persons. On this 
theory of salvation, the single aim, at first, is to subject 
all the world to this rite ; and the list of the number 
baptized is the confident record of the work of salva- 
tion. 

It is needless to say that this is not our method, nor 
have we the same hopeless view of the state and pros- 
pect of the world at large. That men have erred from 
the right, and need to be brought back to the free 
choice of God's wav, we see. We therefore labor "to 
save that which was lost," with not less desire, but with- 
out that reliance upon external forms, and without that 
despair of yet-unpersuaded souls, which mark the doc- 
trine and the practice of the body just described. 

Their cry is, " The Son of man is come, and we come 
in his name, to save that which is lost ] and they regard 
all the world as hopelessly included under changeless 
condemnation, save as it becomes persuaded of the 
truth of their doctrines, and obedient to their practice." 

But the word of Jesus was, "The Son of man is 
come to save that which ivas lost." Why did he say 
" was lost " ? Was the world any nearer to salvation 
when he spoke than it is to-day? Nay, — not so near. 
Small then was the company of them that believed. 
Why, then, did he say "was lost"? — as if the loss 
were a thing of the past. Was it not because He to 
whom the counsels of God were revealed, and who was 
come with saving power in his word and life, foresaw, 



21 

as if it were already present, the mighty salvation he 
was destined to work out; foresaw, that, if he was 
lifted up, he should draw all men unto him ; foresaw, 
in one bright vision, the work of salvation complete, — 
and so spoke as if the loss were gone by, swallowed 
up in gain. 

Ruin is behind; loss is over; destruction is passed 
by ; the Son of man is come to save that which was 
lost. "For this, my son, was lost, and is found; was 
dead, and is alive again." 

Ah ! let us catch this certainty of faith, this con- 
stancy of trust, that was in Christ, and which, while the 
world was rioting about him in wantonness and lust, 
and God's most favored people were raging for his 
blood ; while show and ceremony and greed were crowd- 
ing and profaning the temple of his Father ; while 
scarcely twelve of earth's lowliest people had chosen to 
follow him, — could, nevertheless, declare " that which 
was lost, was lost, the Son of man is come to save." 

For eighteen years you have been working in further- 
ance of his mission. The record of your doings is 
before you. If results could keep you in courage, 
surely you need not lose heart. But good results are 
not and cannot be enough to keep us in that triumphant 
spirit which, out of the assurance of saving power 
within and about us, can speak of the still-vagrant 
world as if its error were past, and its safety secure. 
That confident, courageous spirit can only be quickened 
in us by a fellowship in the active ministry, and a share 
in the divine power that was in our Saviour. Baptized 
with his spirit, and at work about his business, the 
hopeful, sure, reliant heart that was in him shall beat 
in our bosoms ; and, in the fulness of our love and 
fixedness of our purpose, we shall say of the once-per- 
ishing world about us, We are come in the footsteps of 
Jesus to save that which was lost. 

In the first Report of this Association, it is said 



22 

"This Report is believed to be the first ever made relat- 
ing to a child's mission in behalf of destitute childhood. 
It occupies a new field for missionary labor." This 
remark has been repeated on so many anniversaries, 
and by so many speakers, that I almost fear to, disturb 
an illusion which seems to give so much satisfaction. 
But we cannot afford to lose the teaching of a good 
example wherever we may find it ; and I am ready to 
rejoice that the good Spirit who whispered his mission 
into a child's ear eighteen years ago, had whispered the 
same command into the ears of children in another 
church twenty-four years ago. In 1843, under the 
patronage of the Bishop of Nancy in France, was 
started the "Institution of the Holy Childhood," an 
association of Christian children "for the redemption 
of the children of infidels in China and in other pagan 
countries." The lamentable condition of these heathen 
children, often exposed by their unnatural parents to 
perish in the streets or in desert places, first moved the 
Roman Catholics to their mission; and their society, 
from being a small organization formed in France in 
1843, has now become a universal mission, patronized 
by over one hundred bishops, and "reckoning its asso- 
ciates by hundreds of thousands. It claims already to 
have saved upwards of three millions of children, that 
being the number baptized by its missionaries. It edu- 
cates nearly ten thousand children of heathen every 
year. The annual subscription of sixpence apiece, 
which is the portion of each child who joins the society, 
has amounted, in twenty-four years, to 12,000,000 francs, 
or $2,400,000. From an income of $4,500 in 1843 
the first year, the society has risen to an income of 
$320,000 in 1864. In that year, the United States 
stood seventh on the list of nations supporting the mis- 
sion. This is one of the most popular and successful 
missions of the Roman Catholic Church, and it is solely 
a children's mission to the children of the destitute. 



23 

We cannot expect, from our small denomination, to 
rival tke numerical results of the Institution of the Holy 
Childhood ; but we may, at least, imitate its method 
and emulate its zeal. I see no good reason why the local 
mission, so happily established here, should not become 
the parent of a missionary association, which might 
include, as members, all the children of Liberal Chris- 
tians throughout the world, and receive as beneficiaries, 
children of every race under the sun. Nothing would 
help so much the success of a local mission like this, as 
to be in correspondence and co-operation with similar 
homes in other sections of our country. 

It is natural to enjoy the thought of being the first 
to begin a movement so widely beneficent and so attract- 
ive as the Children's Mission to the Children of the 
Destitute. But I deem it a richer satisfaction to dis- 
cover that we are not alone in our good thoughts and 
desires ; that even in other churches and in other com- 
munions, where we seem to have least in common, the 
same good Spirit is speaking to listening hearts. Ours 
is not the only child's mission to the children of the des- 
titute. It is not even the first. The Institution of the 
Holy Childhood had six years the start ; and many 
years of liberal contribution and hard labor will scarcely 
enable us to overtake our bright forerunner. But, 
if with wise co-operation and living faith in the regen- 
erating and reforming power of the Christian religion, 
as we hold it, we can make its influence felt by only 
a few of them that were lost ; without making innumer- 
able converts to a great sect, we may yet add, as much as 
others, to the happiness and virtue of the world in which 
we live. 'As another example of what may be done by 
children in aid of children, I would commend to the 
friends and officers of this charity the reports of the 
"Institution of the Holy Childhood" — the first child's 
mission to the children of the destitute. 

The first, did I say ? Nay ! we forget. Neither that 



24 

nor ours was the first. There hangs in my room a glo- 
rious picture, by many men confessed the greatest 
picture in the world. A mother, with a child in her 
arms, is standing upon the clouds. The happy faces of 
angel children without number shine through the heavens 
about her. Adoring saints kneel on either hand, and 
cherubs look up wistfully from below. But the eye of 
mother and child are fixed on neither saint nor cherub. 
They look beyond the heavens that support them, 
beyond the happy and blessed company that surrounds 
them ; and, though no scenery of earth is in the pic- 
ture, yet in its holiest part, I read that earth with its 
lost and perishing company is in the view. For who in 
heaven can need the pity, or merit the rebuke, of that 
mother's bounteous eye, or who on earth can resist the 
love of the child's. 

Child of the Father everlasting ! It is thou that 
didst first take pity on the children of the destitute, 
even us. It is thou that didst first come " to save that 
which was lost." In every age, and in all thy church, 
shall the children learn of thee, the holy child Jesus. 
May angels, which do always behold the face of thy 
Father, watch over and guard our little ones ! May thy 
memory be with us in our prayers and in our labors ! 
thy hopeful and saving spirit in our hearts and hands ! 
Almighty God, take, keep, and bless this Home, this 
Mission, and this company. 



25 



LIST 



SOCIETIES AND INDIVIDUALS WHO FURNISHED 
THE ROOMS. 



First Floor in Chapel Building furnished by Miss C. E. Donnison, 

of Cambridge.' 
Second Floor in Chapel Building, Chapel, furnished by King's 

Chapel Society, Boston. Rev. H. W. Foote, Pastor. 
Room 

No. 1. Office. — Furnished by Miss Ann Newman and Chil- 
dren^ Mission. 

2. Parlor. — Furnished by the Sunday School of South 

Congregational Society. Rev. Edward E. Hale, Pas- 
tor, Boston. 

3. Housekeeper's Room. — Furnished by ladies of the Ar- 

lington-street Society. Rev. Ezra S. Gannett, D.D., 
Pastor. 
• 4. Private Office. — Furnished by Sunday School of Lee- 
street Church, Cambridgeport. Rev. A. W. Stevens, 
Pastor, 
o. 

6. Sleeping Room. — Furnished by Sunday School in Uni- 

tarian Society in Canton, Mass. 

7. Water Closet. 

8. Bath Room. 

9. Sleeping Room. — Furnished by Mrs. Henry Hatch of 

Boston. Pictures from Miss C. Sprague, Boston. 
10. Sleeping Room. — Furnished by ladies of Second Church, 
Boston. Rev. Chandler Robbins, D.D., Pastor. 



26 

11. Sleeping Room. — Furnished by Sunday School and So- 

ciety in Jamaica Plain. Rev. J. W. Thompson, Pastor. 

12. Sleeping Room. — Furnished by Sunday School in West- 

Church Society. Rev. C. A. Bartol, D.D., Pastor, 
Boston. 

13. Sleeping Room. — Furnished by First Church, Boston. 

Rev. Rufus Ellis, Pastor. 

14. Sleeping Room. — Furnished by Sunday-school Class of 

Mrs. C. Fairbanks, in Rev. R. D. Burr's Society, Ux- 
bridge, Mass. 

15. Sleeping Room. — Furnished by Sunday School in King's 

Chapel Society. Rev. H. W. Foote, Pastor, Boston. 

16. Sleeping Room. — Furnished by the young people in 

Society of Rev. Nathaniel Hall, Dorchester. 

17. Sleeping Room. — Furnished by "Boy's Aid Club" in 

Rev. W. NewelPs, D.D., Society, Cambridge. 

18. Sleeping Room. — Furnished by Sunday School in Hol- 

lis-street Church. Rev. G. L. Chaney, Pastor, Boston. 

19. Kitchen. —Furnished by Children's Mission, together with 

all the crockery and glass ware, cutlery, and spoons. 

20. Dining Room. — Furnished by the Sunday School and 

Society in Channing Church, Newton Corner. Rev. E. 
J. Young, Pastor. 

21. Sleeping Room. — Furnished by First Church, Boston. 

Rev. Rufus Eilis, Pastor. 

22. Sleeping Room. — Furnished by Mr. John L. Barry, 

Boston. 

23. Laundry. — Furnished by Children's Mission. 

No. 28. Bath Room. 

30. Cellar. 

31. Store Room for Cloth- 
ing for Children. 



24. Store Room. 

25. Closet. 

26. Refrigerator, 

27. Store Room. 



%* Pictures have been presented by Mr. Henry P. Kidder of 
Boston, Rev. Thomas B. Fox of Dorchester, and several others. 



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